The fast-fading luster of the American story[Barf Alert]

International Herald Tribune ^ | 6/14/06 | Nathan Gardels and Mike Medavoy

[Oshkalaboomboom]

The publication of cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish daily earlier this year inflamed the pious and mobilized the militant across the Muslim world.

The American casting of Chinese actresses in "Memoirs of a Geisha" stirred the considerable ire of Japanese nationalists when it was released.

At a recent Rolling Stones concert in Shanghai, the Chinese government prohibited the aging rockers from singing "Let's Spend the Night Together."

Indonesian Muslim activists are in an uproar over the launch of a local version of Playboy magazine - even though there is no nudity.

These are but the latest episodes of a clash that is a result of the globalized media crowding cultures with incommensurate values into the same public square.

They suggest that, unlike past moments in history, the main conflict today is less about armies and territories than about the cultural flows of the global information economy.

The core of that system is America's media-industrial complex, including Hollywood entertainment. If culture is on the front line of global affairs, then Hollywood, as much as the Pentagon or Silicon Valley, has a starring role.

The reasons for Hollywood's power, which projects America's way of life to others as well as to ourselves, are clear.

Long before celluloid and pixels were invented, Plato understood that "those who tell the stories also rule." Philosophers tell us that images rule dreams, and dreams rule actions. And if music sets the mood for the multitudes, the warblings of Sinatra and Madonna are surely the muzak of the world order.

This vast influence of American culture in the world is what Harvard professor Joseph Nye has called "soft power."

Now, however, we are witnessing a mounting resistance, particularly from Asia and the Muslim world, to the American media's libertarian and secular messages.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Typical America-Bashing wishful thinking where some Leftist puts what he hopes will happen on paper presented as fact. He does manage to cram a lot of "America is Evil" nonsense into one tiny editorial, kind of funny to know that he is so torn up inside with jealousy and envy.

[BadAndy]

Hollywood doesnt reflect American culture any more than a visit to a whore house reflects life in a convent. Hollywood distorts and perverts our culture.

[CrazyIvan]

Reminds me of one of P.J. O'Rourke's books where he reports on an anti-American demonstration in some middle east country. Most of the teenagers were doing their best to dress in American fashion, and one told him that his dream was to go there some day!

[dropzone]

I can't argue he point that Hollywood is a horrible ambassador of the United States. If it were my main source of information about the USA and American values (which it is to many) , then I too would have a very negative opinion of America. The bulk of Hollywood and American pop-culture (hip-hop, MTV, etc) has gone from a source of pride to a national embarrassment.

But such is he price of freedom. I just wish there was more emphasis on what's right with America, but that seems very unfashionable in the self-absorbed entertainment industry.

[Diogenesis]

[Publius6961]

This editorial sounds spot on.
The excesses of Hollywood and Madison Avenue meet the excesses of the Taliban.

A match made in heaven. I'll get the popcorn.

No, I don't feel the slightest need of defending any of it.

[the invisib1e hand]

hmmmmmm.....ahhh, yeah, now....that's it....ahhh.

OK. All this America hating is starting to wake up the fight in me. --- America.

[Jabba the Nutt]

"The core of that system is America's media-industrial complex, including Hollywood entertainment."

Well, American technology, created out of American freedom and free enterprise is the core of that system. But what do the Mohammed Cartoons have to do with America? And what's the biggest by FAR worldwide cultural/media event that's going on right as we speak, which btw is almost totally ignored alone in the world by America? That would be the World Cup.

The conflict in the world today is mostly to do with the Muslim world coming to grips with modernity. The Muslim culture is incapatable with freedom, but most Muslims like the fruits that freedom brings. So, they are having a cultural civil war, which has bled over into the rest of the world, with the US the number one target, because the US is the number one instigator of freedom. The US is intervening in this Muslim Cultural War with many, many Muslims assisting, supporting and backing the US. This is going to play out over a number of decades.